Letter to Erin 20150730

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

Aha!  I caught Bat Cat I eating the cat food!  So much for his pride and independence.  This is the first time in years I caught him eat my food.  Of course he ran away at top speed when he heard me.  But I guess It's somewhat gratifying that he relies on me a little.  But this batch of cat food has some worms in it.  Both ------- and ---- laid some fresh stools last night and I inspected them when I saw some white specks, and they were worms.  Now of course one can't expect purity in cat food.  Do you think that the humans would use fresh red snapper and bluefin tuna for processed cat food pellets?  Of course not.  Even the top brands like Friskies. Meow Mix and Iams get their bulk fish from slave boats, probably days or perhaps weeks old by the time they get it.  So this morning while I was waiting for my Dad to see the eye specialist, I swung by the vet to pick up some anti worm medicine.  By the way, the vet was packed and so was the eye specialist.  Anyway, they had run out of anti worm pills, so I went to the pet shop in the evening after it stopped raining to get the medicine.  When I got back, little ------- was crouching at the cat food, then went to lay a fresh stool.  No worms!  Where did the worms go?  I wasted RM22 on worm syrup?  I didn't want to give the cats drugs they don't need, so I put off the medicine for now.

I don't have a standard recipe for mole sauce.  The batch I made for dinner was made out of my failed attempt at making a palatable chocolate bar out of cooking chocolate.  As you know, I can't find cocoa butter anywhere around here, so I have to use cooking chocolate.  My chocolate bar attempt tasted good, but it had turned into Nutella (could it be that Nutella is actually a hazelnut bar failure?)  Actually, it tasted like mole sauce before I even added the hot chilli puree in.  Maybe the spoon wasn't properly washed.  The hot chilli puree had onions and Thai peppers in it, so my mole sauce today had some kick.  I slow cooked a chicken breast in the sauce, so the sauce also has chicken broth in it.  Then I made chicken mole burritos with lettuce, tomatoes, and black mushrooms sauteed in butter.  I made one for you, but I ate it since you didn't show up for dinner.

If you're trying your hand at cooking (and you should, but please have fun at it OK?) then please make sure that you put your stomach before your taste buds.  What I mean is make sure that what you cook doesn't hurt your stomach, regardless of the taste.  The flavor will follow naturally inshaAllah.  Also just use no bigger than medium heat until you have total confidence.  But I don't want to compete with you in cooking.  I have to eat whatever you serve me without complaint, because I love you and I need you.  But my stomach is very sensitive, so please have mercy on me.